Thoughts on Goals in Health

We're taught how important GOALS are. In health we are often made to feel like we "should" have a GOAL. Just like in life. We "should" be striving for something.

Wait... Isn't "striving for something" another way of saying "making progress"?

Isn't "making progress" still moving forward?

... I KNOW it is! And moving forward is creating positive change!

Here's how I look at this;

It's complex, like us. It's NOT "this or that".

Goal setting can be done in very helpful and realistic ways (such as the 4-circle exercise) and it can also be done in ways that actually CREATE more barriers along the way (especially in the mind).

I've seen people have goals (big and small) and achieve them.

I've seen people without a "goal" other than a healthy, happy future for themselves and reach that.

Is either one wrong??? I don't believe so. However, it always NEEDS to depend on the INDIVIDUAL. And that individual, needs to learn how to PIVOT and be FLEXIBLE in his/her approach if/when needed along the way to increase their chances of achieving whatever their goal(s) may be.

I've seen people who "have goals" in fitness, nutrition and health and who CREATE MORE stress for themselves, because of it. The "goal" becomes their "world" AND "their worth". I will argue every time that THAT is NOT a healthy, nor sustainable approach to health and lifestyle.

Why "should" we be setting goals and striving for something?? Well, "they say" it's to keep people motivated. Hmmm... 🤔 Well, that's been the approach for HOW MANY DECADES now??? People are STILL frustrated, confused and in some cases giving up on their health - so is it working?? I think, like most things in life, we forget about the NUANCES and COMPLEXITY and we instead treat it like a simple 1 + 1 = 2 equation. Life doesn't work that way!

Let me point out a few thoughts to get YOU thinking about YOUR health goals (specifically HOW you approach them):

Are the specifics defined? For example, when people have the goal of "getting in shape". Ok - But what does "in shape" mean to you? How do you know when you "get there"? Make the specifics of your goal EASILY UNDERSTOOD so that when you achieve it, you'll know.

Is there flexibility built into your plan/approach? Life throws curveballs all the time. Some at high speeds and some just kinda lobbed at us. The certainty however is that life DOES get in the way of our health habits. Therefore, when setting your goal and planning your routines / building habits, ANTICIPATE resistance in the form of "life". Not only is your goal important, but know what you'll do WHEN (NOT IF) life gets in the way. This will help you be consistent and keep moving forward (even if it's in smaller steps at times).

Have you considered your WANTS and DON'T WANTS? In goal setting / planning, we often leave this part out. We do as we're "supposed to", we do what "someone else did"... but we rarely consider what WE want or don't want in the process of reaching our goal(s). For example, you may have the goal of training for a half marathon. This requires time and effort. Even if you're running with the goal of just finishing the race, your training a couple weeks from race day will have built to needing a couple hours of your time/energy. Do you WANT that? Are you ok with being away from your family to go run? Are you good with spending your Saturday morning running for a couple hours since that's your only day you can do a long run in your week? There's no right or wrong answer here, but it NEEDS to be considered in your goals. The only time you "get this wrong" is when you ignore this reality of your plans.

Is the goal coming from YOU or from an external source? When our goals are set from INTRINSIC reasons/wants, we have already increased the chances of achieving the goal! That makes it about YOU, not ANYONE ELSE. The common approach unfortunately is to set goals based on EXTERNAL sources/factors such as societal expectations, peer pressure, social media comparisons etc. These EXTERNALLY motivated goals are more often than not much harder to achieve, and certainly much harder to sustain if we were to achieve them.

Have you considered "the stupid"? It's just fun to say that. Seriously though - when setting your goals, consider the "stupid stuff" we tend to overlook. Let's say for example you buy a gym membership (because you "should" 🫣) and plan to go 3-times per week after work. Have you considered what clothes you'll bring? What shoes you want/need to wear? Is your water bottle ready to go? What bag will you put everything in? Will you bring it to work with you to go right after, or come home first? If you come home first, will there be anything that may prevent you from still going to the gym? If you're going after work, how often do you come home and feel like doing nothing? ... I can keep going. My point being, we often omit all the "stupid" decisions that are important when first building a new habit, that surround a larger one like going to the gym regularly.

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There are a few other things that come to mind, but hopefully I got you thinking a bit about your goals from the thoughts here. I don't believe we ALL need "something" to go after like an event, competition or lifting a certain amount of weight off the floor. I believe our goals can be things that are off in the somewhat distant future like, "I want to play on the floor with my grandkids", "I want to have energy most days", "I want to feel good most days"... These are GREAT goals to have in my opinion! Then again, that's MY opinion.

I think we can sum it up to;

Make YOUR health goals about YOU, in EVERY SINGLE WAY.

If you want it - go after it.

But NEVER feel that you "have to" go after any particular goal because someone else "says so".